


The Usual

by ItsYaBoiOddball



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Star Wars Setting, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Because of Reasons, Canon Divergence - Star Wars Expanded Universe, Clone Drama, Clone Wars, F/M, Force Bond (Star Wars), Gen, M/M, Not all Characters Listed, Star Wars rebels - Freeform, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) Spoilers, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, Well - Freeform, first off, fix-some, not all, two Rex's at once lol, weird ships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-08
Updated: 2020-06-28
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:35:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24605548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ItsYaBoiOddball/pseuds/ItsYaBoiOddball
Summary: The Ghost Crew does everything together! They go on missions, eat dinners, hang out, cause trouble, get sucked into the will of the Force's time shenanigans even. Although the big thing here is that no one was expecting that last one to ever happen.When the crew realizes there circumstances they realize that they are being given a chance, an opportunity to fix the things that have happened.In an attempt to let the force guide them, they start to do crazy things that would surely get them arrested if caught in order to save the galaxy from the terrible fate awaiting it. So really, nothings changed.
Relationships: CT-27-5555 | Fives | ARC-5555 & CT-7567 | Rex, CT-7567 Rex & Original Character, Garazeb "Zeb" Orrelios/Hardcase, Kanan Jarrus & CT-7567 | Rex, Kanan Jarrus/Hera Syndulla
Comments: 19
Kudos: 67





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! This'll be my second fic, I appreciate any and all comments! I'm excited to get this one going.

The force is peculiar, no one knew exactly what it was. Some believed it was two separate things, one being Ashla the light side, while dark was called Bogan. Others believed that there were no sides of the force that were right or wrong, just the will. A middle ground. In the most basic form, it was a life energy that bonded the galaxy together, making it whole. But that wasn’t all. It has a will of its own after all, and today the will of the force had something new for the ghost crew.

They had just landed from another successful mission, Ezra and Kannan were attempting to meditate while Zeb and Sabine argued about some weird space sport, they both enjoyed. Rex and Hera were discussing ways to amp up the ghost and make it better. Chopper had left the ship to argue with his friends, his favorite pass time. The crew was settling down when they all felt an odd sensation sending shivers up and down their spines. Ezra’s eyes shot open at the feeling and as soon as he opened his eyes, he was in an ally way in a city he didn’t recognize.

“Kannan…?” He called _maybe it’s another vision; we’ll just play this one out._ He rose and looked around carefully, Kannan was there, along with Hera, Zeb, Sabine, and Rex. This wasn’t like his normal visions. It felt so different, and something in him was screaming at him. Every time the word vision passed through his mind the feeling of _wrong_ grew within him. “Okay so maybe its not a vision” he mumbled walking over to shake Kannan who looked bewildered and confused by the sudden noise of the city.

“What the hells?” Kannan began cut off by a gasp from Rex

Rex blinked and he was back in an oddly familiar place, it was a city he visited often when he was younger. It was… where he’d go with his brothers once in a while to get a drink and eat some cheap grub… 79’s. 79’s was just in his sight across the ally. He was on Coruscant. At the realization he slid against the wall quickly as he saw a Coruscant guard pass turning his head. But they were… they had red paint on them? What kind of…. Those weren’t storm troopers; they weren’t allowed those traditions...

“What’s going on” he whispered feeling his breath speed up at the sight of the guard. He heard more noise in the ally and snapped his head over to where he heard it and he saw the ghost crew there with him. Everyone was tense looking and seeing the guard pass by the other end of the ally, placing their hands on their blasters and lightsabers “ _no!”_ Rex hurried out making them look up in surprise

“Storm troopers Rex, what do you mean no?” Zeb growled out without looking to him

“T-those aren’t storm troopers” He was beyond confused but he knew that for a fact “What storm trooper looks like that? They aren’t allowed colors on their uniforms either.” Rex got out quickly and suddenly Zeb turned angry but stopped

“You- who’re you?” He balked at Rex making Rex look at him confused.

“It’s me, its Rex who else would it be?” He looked at Zeb closer wandering if he hit his head in the confusion “Kriffing, what is it?!” did his voice sound funny?

“Rex?” Ezra asked carefully

“Yes! You know this already what the kriff is going on here?” He let out trying to stay somewhat calm despite his confusion. His voice definitely sounded a tad bit sharper than it had in a while, but he was feeling panicked of course it did.

“You look different…” Hera said looking at him confused and then to Zeb “Do I look different?” She asked puzzled.

“No you look like you” Zeb responded quickly, “He looks Karking weird” Zeb said pointing to Rex who was about ready to lose it “Are you really Rex?”

“Alright someone explain right now before I-“ Rex was interrupted by Ezra picking up a shard of broken mirror on the ground in the ally and shoved it in front of Rex who froze. It was still him of course, he still had a beard which was weird, but it was blonde, he had hair on the top of his head again and it was blonde as well, he was thinner then he’d been in years, not to mention less muscle then he had gained. “What the…” he touched his face as if to assure himself it was real. He froze, he looked like he did when he was about 17 years old, so 34 in regular years. He took the mirror for a moment before dropping it a second later. He was as he was when he was 34, a muscled clone who was trying to hide his identity with a half of a beard as he had before whatever this was.

“What’s going on?!” Sabine asked grasping for her weapons again. The Mandalorian was clearly twitching for her weapons. “They don’t look like storm troopers that’s for sure”

“There all around us” Kannan whispered his heart beating fast, he recognized this force energy, it felt familiar, when he was younger, he sensed it around the clones. A strange sense of strong comradery… and it scared him. “Clones” The group paused shuddering confused out of their minds and completely lost in the universe. Ezra blinked and felt another form of the force, as if guiding him. He sat back down

“Ezra? What’s wrong?” Sabine asked kneeling next to him quickly he grabbed her hand and pulled at her hand carefully beckoning her down towards the ground “What?”

“We, we should all take a seat I think” Ezra said just loud enough for everyone to hear him. Everyone felt oddly compelled to listen, instead of arguing they slowly sat down, closer to one another and more against the walls so they weren’t visible by the dumpsters in the ally. “Close your eyes and listen” He asked, and they did. Kannan saw something strange as soon as he settled down breathing in and out, he saw a new purpose. Everyone saw and felt it, as if they were being pulled into a new energy. It wasn’t necessarily an explanation like they had desired, but it was what they needed. A sense of calm washed over them, and they realized they were there for a reason, although it wasn’t said aloud, yet they all knew it. They were where they needed to be. They continued to sit there for a while, trying to search out anymore answers. Rex was first to rise, ever a man of action.

“We should go, if anyone see’s my face we’re screwed.” They look at him funny for a moment “My hair isn’t really at regulation length and I don’t want to be interrogated”

“What’s that mean?” Zeb asked before realizing their situation “Uh, right. How many Clones are there anyway?” He asked carefully making Rex scoff

“On planet or overall?” Rex grimly replied

“Uh, on planet I guess…”

“Well around 9,216 who are here consistently, and since we have visitors sometimes, double that.” Rex frowns “Ah, and of course the natural born guards” he said and Zeb opened his mouth to reply but shut it in shock. That was a lot of kriffen clones.

“Where can we go? We don’t know much about this place; you got any ideas?” Sabine worriedly asked, Rex contemplated a moment before nodding. “I know where we can steal a ship around here, we’ll need to get to the other side of town though”

“Stealing from these guys shouldn’t be so hard” Zeb said chuckling making Rex glare spears into him

“We aren’t stealing from the Republic, besides there’s trackers in each ship they’d find us pretty quick.” He looked around the garbage for any discarded clothing

“Why are we looking for a ship so quickly? We were brought here for a reason, right? I think we need to stay.” Kannan quickly put in “Besides, it isn’t exactly easy to steal here, not with so many… clones”

“I know, but where are we going to stay? Everything is to expensive here. We don’t have any plans, and we need money to do a lot of things. I know where we can get a ship and where we can get money”

“How exactly do you know that?” Sabine asked confused by the Captains knowledge on this

“Well, I know a place we can work. The guy will be willing to hire one of us for a bit, but he can’t pay much, times are a bit… rough. There’s also plenty of one off jobs we can take in lower levels. And the ship will be easy, junk yards have a few ships nearly whole that the ritzy folks throw away. Its not exactly legal, but its not specifically illegal either… I hope”

“You hope?” Kannan crossed his arms as Rex finally dug out a cloak, it had a large tear on the side, but his shoulders didn’t matter as much as his face, the head was obviously for someone much larger, and possibly a slightly different shape, but it would work.

“Well its better than nothing” he sighed out “Sabine do you have any paint on you?” She blinked and saw his white armor she nodded taking it out

“I don’t know how much I have left though, didn’t get a chance to restock yet.” She took off the cap as he removed pieces and she began to paint them. It was a solid deep blue, not bad but not his blue, it was a bit too dark. He noticed his younger body, it wasn’t as thin as a military version of him was, but it was built up, it was like Alpha-17’s muscle mass. He felt so odd, were they in the year his body was from? No, that wasn’t it. They were definitely from earlier on then when he was 17, he knows that simply because the armor, it was still in phase. Why hadn’t anyone else’s body changed? He felt his face again, it was rougher, and his eyes felt strained. This was almost to much for him to handle so he refocused. They needed to find a ship. 

While Rex was frozen in thought Hera went to Kannan grasping at his hand lightly

“Kannan?” she asked with no response “Kannan listen to me” She gave the order quietly and he carefully turned his head to her pain and anger he hadn’t felt in so long was bleeding from him, you didn’t have to be a Jedi to realize it. “oh love, I know” She held him a bit closer for a moment before pulling away from him holding on tightly to his hands “This isn’t going to be easy for you, I know… but we need to move, Rex is right, if we get caught he could be in some serious trouble. Rex are you ready?” he didn’t move at all, staring off at nothing Zeb grasped his shoulder and shook him lightly making him jump slightly

“Y-yeah sorry. Let’s get outta here”

“Here’s your armor” they all could see the new tension in Kannan and Rex, and they couldn’t help their own tension that developed in this strange new world. This was gonna be one hell of a mission.


	2. Gathering the basics

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finding a ship was easy on Coroscant's upper levels, they were stationed there temporarily till they could be destroyed. In fact finding materials didn't seem to be the real problem at all. Rex dealing with seeing his brothers after nearly 20 years though? That was a whole other story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyya! Got a new chapter for ya, thought I'd get it up sooner but I've been rather busy lately with college classes, I'm not the best at online school lol. ANYWAY, this chapter isn't super exciting and I'm sorry about that, but I need to get some more establishing points out before I really get into it! :) I hope you like it, bye!
> 
> P.S. I totally forgot to say when I originally posted this! The way I'm doing time is by saying AOR which is After the Old Republic. I figured that was a major event the Old republic being done and all, so that's how I'm basing the time.

Rex hadn’t looked up once passing by the troopers, he only took them through the streets as best as his memory served, they quickly came to the junk yard and lucky for them they could see at least two ships. They snuck in quickly going straight into the slightly larger ship knowing it was more likely to have a hyper drive. Rex mentioned it was called a luxury 3000, it reminded Ezra of Hondo’s ship. It was a good size and so they began working on the ship best they could, needing the distraction for the moment. They found tools in the ship, and Sabine and Hera were carrying useful tools as well.

Nothing made sense, but something, the Force Ezra supposed was holding them together for now. They found they were missing quite a few things, but it was enough to fly around, but they would have to wait till nightfall.

“Great, were only missing a few things. Now all we need to do is look around at other junk to find it, or make a list, somehow get money, and then somehow figure out-“ Hera rattled off for a while the frustration bleeding through. No one stopped her feeling the same but they were confused on what to do.

“Well” Rex began after she got quiet again “First things first, its gotta be between years 996 and 998” Hera looked at him puzzled for a moment

“How do you know that?”

“The armor, the color isn’t the only thing that’s different. It’s a phase one armor, we changed our armor around the middle of 998. It isn’t upgraded so I’m confident in that at the very least.” He mumbled the last part to himself dryly.

“The Jedi were wiped out at year, 1000.” Kannan added in entering the room suddenly. He couldn’t help much; he had a lack of knowledge about general ships and… well he was blind of course. He had time to think through and process without distraction, so he meditated, he listened to the force trying to understand why they were where they were. The more he thought the more he felt as if they were going to need to do many greatly drastic things… and with Rex confirming the year they were most likely in he was starting to get some very dangerous ideas. “That means were at the beginning of the war or middle. We’ve got some time”

“Yeah” Rex replied awkwardly, suddenly his eyes lit up and he looked up at Kannan his lip twitching at the edge “Are you possibly suggesting…?” He asked feeling a well of hope within him fill, the sudden need to say it overwhelming him quickly and he obeyed it “We could save the republic, more then that the Jedi, and…” His eyes were wider then they had been in his life at the realization “My brothers” Everyone looked up from where they had previously placed them lost in thought, Zeb was first to speak

“What do you mean? Even if were here, its just the six of us. We aren’t stopping a war on our own” He points out “Especially one that has engulfed more then half the galaxy, but…” Zeb’s pessimism froze as he thought about it more

“We have knowledge now that we didn’t then!” Ezra points out, he was confused but it all felt right “We know how this war ends, I’m sure that’s gotta be helpful!”

“Yeah, you said the Clones were controlled by chips in their head… “ Sabine contemplated, if they could tell someone about it then they could put a stop to this “We could tell the Jedi about it, they would listen!” She suggested quickly, and Hera nodded along quickly adding on

“Yeah, if they knew they could-“

“No guys we _cannot_ tell the Jedi!” Rex interrupted quickly making everyone look to him surprised

“Why the kriff not?” Kannan asked anger showing through “They need to know! How else can we stop them?” Rex glared slightly at him but took in a breath and calmed himself a bit

“You don’t understand Kannan, we can’t tell them they won’t listen.”

“Why not? There Jedi, they’ll know what to do!” Rex shook his head

“No! They won’t! You might not know, but they weren’t exactly the most humble listeners, and not only that but if they tell the chancellor or anyone on the senate then we’ll be in even bigger trouble!” a small growl escaped Rex’s throat at the end

“How do you know they won’t listen? We just need to come up with a way to explain it that they’ll understand” Kannan argued back, his anger was clouding his ability to think reasonably, but Ezra could feel the wrench in him, the pull that felt like telling the Jedi would be more dangerous then they knew.

“NO! If we could trust them to take that knowledge and accept it then Fives wouldn’t have-“ Rex stopped suddenly his anger diminishing into sorrow at the memory of Fives, it had all happened so fast…

“Who’s Fives?” Sabine inquired after the sudden and long pause, looking to Rex carefully. In his younger state, she could see his face better, he was still a hardened war veteran who’d seen to much, they all had and so she recognized the look. But she could see his mouth better, the hair was easier to see around, he was sad. He was sad just by the mention of a name, and Kannan was defensive of the Jedi. She had a feeling tonight would be a long one.

Rex stayed standing and not answering, it was a hard question to answer. But it was also necessary for them to understand some things. “He was- is one of my brothers. He was an ARC trooper, or a Advance Recon Commando.” He started Kannan scoffed in annoyance, he wanted to get onto a plan already not hear another war story. “He was the one who discovered the chips” That made Kannan freeze. “this’ll be a long one” he joked bitterly sitting down. “Well, it all started at the battle of Ringo Vinda…” he told them of the battle that had taken place and edged his way over to Tup. He told them how the seppies attempted to kidnap Tup after he had killed a Jedi. He explained that they couldn’t figure it out with there supplies, they thought maybe there was a virus, or a way to control our minds that the separatists came up with to try and kill the Jedi. “Five’s did something drastic when he found out they were gonna kill Tup to figure out what was wrong, not that I blame him” he sighed out rubbing his head, which now had his old scruffy head of hair “he convinced a medical droid to help him aid in caring for Tup, together they found what seemed to be a tumor… so the crazy di’kuut took it out” he laughed softly at the memory of his brother. “I don’t know what really happened, but all that it said in the report was that the chip was there to keep the aggressive levels the original Jango Fett lowered so we would be more compliant and listen to orders better… hell of a story that was” he then explained as best he could how Fives was eventually taken to the chancellor after Shak Ti argued to take him to the Jedi Council, and to find a middle ground they went to the Republic leader, Palpatine. “Fives told me and General Skywalker that the chancellor was apart of a conspiracy to kill the Jedi, by that point he had been going downhill since taking his chip out… he was accused of trying to kill the chancellor and so Skywalker didn’t believe him. He was shot by commander Fox when he aimed a gun at the guard who were coming to arrest him. He died saying all he wanted was to do his duty.” He clenched his fist harshly. “General Ti, was going to let him be reconditioned, one of my closest friends, Anakin Skywalker didn’t believe him. I think we need something more then just the Jedi to rely on, especially since not all of them are truly apart of the order” He remembered Pong Krell and Bariss Offee, those were the two he knew best for leaving in a volatile way, but they weren’t the only ones. With 10,000 Jedi, he definitely didn’t have the ability to know them all or what they did.

“Okay, so we come up with a better plan.” Kannan finally says “I think the best idea would be to somehow get the chips out of the Clones heads…” Zeb turned his head to the other two and said

“Yeah, I like the sentiment, but if there are just 18,000 something clones here, and at least… look it’s a lot of clones to de-chip. I think we still need the Jedi on this one, although we do alright without em.” Rex contemplated for a moment at that, its true, but if they could start to de chip the clones at least, they could create a force of clones who the chancellor couldn’t use the chips against.

“I think the best thing we can do is figure out what our main goals are, as basic as possible, then we can get into details” Ezra told them folding his arms. “Well we know that we want to save the republic. There’s the first main goal, how we are going to do that… well we can’t de-chip every clone at once, besides, it’d be suspicious if the wrong person noticed this could all be ruined”

“Right, I think we should de-chip the most useful men you can think of Rex, then we can work on a slow way to de-chip the clones. We can tell Jedi that are trusted, you guys should know who isn’t trusted right?” Sabine and Ezra were making many fine points and that boosted Rex’s confidence back up. Kannan settled more allowing the ideas to flow again, trying to untangle from the angry mess he had been not to long ago.

“Alright, we’ll come up with a list of names.” Rex rubbed at his chin thinking, he trusted most of his brothers, it was more of a matter of deciding who would be the most useful to them right now. “I think it’ll take a minute, what else do we want to do?” He asked to which Kannan quickly replied

“I think we need to find a way to infiltrate Kamino as well, that’s where Clones are made… so I think if we can somehow get in there then we can figure out more about the chips.”

“Yeah, good idea. I think the list of names just grew” Rex smirked “I know some guys who can do ops like that well, and since we won’t exactly fit in we’re really gonna need a lot of allies here.” They didn’t have a ton bigger idea, Rex did tell them he knew a brother named Cut Lawquane whom he wanted to help get the chip out of as soon as possible. “I can help brothers who are trapped places, depending on the time… I could actually help to save a lot of brothers…. At least in the 501st I know what those battles are! I know how I can help them! I think… we need to convince myself first and foremost, my men trust me, so if I can get myself to convince the others, we’ll be able to get a lot of good done.” Rex smiled, he could save a lot more brothers then he thought initially, he could save Fives, Echo, Hardcase, and-

“That’s true, but we’ll need to be careful about how that’s done.” Hera says looking him in the eye, she’s still not used to how young he looks, not as young as the clones she had met before him but much younger than Rex usually was. “We need to do it in a way that won’t be… suspicious, you may know how these battles end but not everyone out there does. It can’t look suspicious to people of higher ranks, if everyone just suddenly knows how it ends and exactly how to win they’ll start to wonder.”

“Yeah, besides I think before we can accomplish any of this, we need to figure out what year were in, what day and the month number… do you have a starting list of Clones who can help us?” Rex nods to Ezra

“Well, we can find out the date easy if we can get ahold of a data pad of some sort. Or just ask someone. And yeah, I think I’ve got a pretty solid idea of who to ask first, and that’ll definitely be myself and my squad. Whoever my squad is at the time is trustworthy, and if we can get ahold of ARC trooper Fives that would be helpful as well.”

0-0-0

After discussing the finer details, they left Hera and Kannan aboard the ship to make sure they kept ahold of it, luckily there short ranged comms still worked with each other and so they could let them know if anyone came towards the ship. Rex took the others around coruscant never quite looking all the way up, he couldn’t show his face and it made him nervous to think what would happen if someone caught a glimpse that wasn’t a civie.

“So, what is this place were going to anyways?” Sabine asked, “Its not sketchy is it?”

“No, I know a few places. I think we’ll have our best luck with loading docks and simple labor jobs, they’ll be the most willing to pay us although they’ll be cheap about it… but moneys money. The other place is a diner, we go way back. But I don’t think its such a good idea yet.”

“Why?”

“Well depending on the year, we might not know each other yet, at least not well enough to ask for favors.” Rex frowned a little “not only that but I’m not exactly the one he’d know… I look to different, and I was a bit more… a bit more serious when I was younger.”

“I mean your not exactly a jokester now” Sabine said smirking at him lightly, to which he smiled back

“Well, that may be true but, I didn’t smile so much then. Everything was different then now. Anyway, I was different. Depending on the year, I was wound pretty tight”

“So, you softened up when you got older old man?” Zeb joked shoving lightly at Rex

“I may have gotten softer, but I’m still wound up enough to kick your shebs” Rex said giving a wry grin at Zeb who rolled his eyes playfully. They quickly found a docking bay and went to a desk manager who pointed them towards labor that would pay decently enough after Rex worked at him for a few minutes. It was loading unknown cargo, but Rex said the less details the better. Luckily, they were told the time by the manager, it was 3 in the afternoon. They worked for 5 hours before they were finished, and man did Rex feel good! He was moving faster then he had in years, he got a majority of things in by himself and was given a small bonus and told to come back again if he could! He was feeling great, and his body only ached lightly at the lifting, this was the year his body was at peak physical condition, his muscles were trained differently and were more used to physical labor and fighting more then Clankers, more hand to hand combat as he escaped trouble while attempting to save brothers.

“Geez Rex, I thought you would at least have the decency to look tired after that!” Ezra whined to which Rex chuckled lightly “lets go get the stupid data pad or something and get back to the ship” everyone nodded feeling tired. They decided although it wasn’t really necessary for the date, access to the holonet would probably come in handy. They got to a cheap shop Rex knew about due to brothers often buying their own personal data pads so they could feel a bit more in control of themselves. Rex and Zeb elected to stay outside, Rex saw a few brothers in there greys inside and figured he shouldn’t risk it. Zeb just didn’t care for the store.

Rex was beaming at how great he felt, it’d been a long time since he’s had an opportunity like this. He was so focused on his thoughts that he had hardly noticed till it was too late, and he had bumped into something running passed him.

“Oof!” _oh no_ “Uh- sorry about that…” _that was a brother’s voice_ , a hand was offered to him. He had fallen straight to the ground, he couldn’t move “here I’ll help you up” the soldier went for his hand and drug him up since Rex didn’t protest “Sorry about that” Rex nodded but didn’t make a move to say a thing, if he spoke and they recognized it, he’d be doomed. _Keep your head down, don’t say a word._

“Oi, Hardcase! I told you to slow down” Hardcase?! “I’m sorry sir we’ll leave you be!” the men quickly ran off and Rex was glad because his head shot up and he looked seeing his brothers, seeing that 501st blue on there armor and seeing an angry Jesse drag Hardcase off quickly. Rex felt sick to his stomach, _its real, there here, I-I can save them_ he felt tears escape him for the first time in years.

“Oi Rex, it’s alright they didn’t see you.” Zeb grasped Rex’s shoulders carefully and felt him shake a bit. It was so unusual for Rex to seem vulnerable that it almost made Zeb jump “Rex?” Zeb quietly and hastily whispered, “You’re alright, I’ve got your back”. Sabine and Ezra came out to see Zeb holding tightly to a shaking Rex and they came over quickly and went down an ally so they could figure out what was happening without wondering eyes on them

“What happened?!” Sabine demanded “We were gone for 10 minutes!”

“Karabast!” Zeb threw out frustrated “I know! A clone ran into him, I think he was scared they would see him but…”

“Hardcase” Rex got out grabbing at himself as if it would protect him.

“What?!” Zeb hissed

“He was… h-his name is Hardcase, the 501st is here” Everyone froze, _his brothers_ were there on coruscant

“That’s… that’s good Rex. We can get into contact with them possibly.” Sabine said

“Rex, we need to go. If anyone would recognize you its them.” Ezra whispered quickly. He nodded and Zeb gave his arm a light squeeze before they all slipped out with Zeb right next to Rex to reassure him he was there. They ran into a few guards patrolling but Rex wasn’t looking up, so they didn’t notice him. They quickly got back, it was getting dark and they were lucky to sneak back in before the more intense night guard had gotten to all points of entry and exit. Rex had calmed down but was clearly shook up by the experience and seemed confused by it all.

“Hey guys, how’d it go? Run into any trouble?” Hera asked while distractedly working through an old box of junk she had found in the ship

“Uh, yeah it went alright. We got some credits.” Ezra answered carefully looking to Rex who was still out of it “We got a data pad, but it’s really old. I’ve never seen a model like this before” Hera scoffed at that before turning around to give him a look

“Yeah well it doesn’t need to be fancy just useful, besides were in the past by who knows how many years. It doesn’t look all that bad.” She saw Rex’s face and she turned to him quickly “Rex? Is something wrong?” He looked up slowly but then practically snapped out of his trance when he looked her in the face.

“Um yes. I mean, no… no things are fine. We got credits like the kid said.” Hera raised her brow at him and Zeb accidently let out a groan at that.

“What happened?” Hera turned to Zeb, when he didn’t answer right away, she got a bit closer and looked at the others as well “Are we safe?”

“I’m sorry” Rex jumped in “Were fine I just saw… well… I ran into some brothers, the 501st is here although I don’t know how long. We should figure out the day, if I remember the mission, we can figure out how long I’ll be here, well if I am. Sometimes I went on special missions with smaller groups.” He got it out a bit to steadily compared to how he was doing earlier, Zeb gave him a look but didn’t argue. “Open up the data pad already” he added with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. Ezra clearly wanted to say something about the odd behavior but decided against it instead opening the data pad.

“Well the date is the first month, the 20th. The year is 998.” Ezra looked to Rex for answers, he nodded thinking about the day’s. After a few moments he asked “Anything?” To which Sabine shouldered him.

“I think… I think I was already headed out for a separate mission. To the citadel.” He looked down with a frustrated twist on his face but said nothing about it.

“Alright, what else is on your mind?” Hera said immediately he looked at her almost guiltily but nodded

“I-I can’t stay here. Not for now.” The others looked at him startled by this “I know where I’m at with things… I can only hinder progress for now. I think it’d be best if I went ahead and went to Cut to help…” another sigh as he shook his head lightly as if scolding himself. “I need time to think this out, and I can still do good by helping Cut. Right now seeing my brothers… so many at once is overwhelming and I’d rather not freeze up if something important happens.” He felt a warmth within him, that made his body feel comfortable and relax… he didn’t exactly get it but he felt like what he said was right. “I know it sounds weird but-“

“Okay” Kannan calmly pushed in

“What? Really?” Rex asked with an almost disturbed look

“I feel like, it sounds like the right thing to do. Besides, making sure your feeling your best is important. We’ll need you back though, don’t forget that!” He smiled at Rex who smiled with a small grateful noise. “But before that we need information, about you, the citadel, and your brothers” Hera looked a little perplexed but didn’t say anything, they all felt the odd warmth in them, and they couldn’t argue with it.

“Right”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!!! Thank you so much for Kudos and I appreciated the comment! :D They make me happy to know what you guys think so don't be afraid to leave one or ask questions. Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed! Stay safe out there!


	3. A Useful Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rex reveals his past to the ghost crew, he shares things he'd never thought he'd have to say.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry its been so long, I've been busy and all that jazz. Hope you all are doing good, enjoy this chapter! :D

Note: AOR after the old republic

“Alright Rex what do we need to know?” Kannan asked. Rex sighed running his hand over the top of his head seemingly exhausted already.

“Well, this is year 998 AOR, and its Month 1. I think I’m at the citadel right now. It’s a separate mission, just me and a few others along with some of the Jedi.” He paused sighing, he switched to a bit of an odd voice, a bit more robotic. He was making a report now and nothing else. “The citadel; we went to save a Jedi master General Piel I was sent with 3 Jedi and 9 troopers outside of myself. We escaped with a few of the surviving men from the Citadel, the Generals Kenobi and Skywalker, along with commander Tano and Tarkin. General Piel-“

“Wait wait wait… are you really going to gloss over the fact that you helped to save kriffing Tarkin?!” Ezra’s face was contorted in confused anger.

“He isn’t important right now. I can’t do anything about it now anyway, he will escape alive.” A dark look entered Rex’s eyes and Kannan put a hand on Ezra’s shoulder calming him quickly. “After that we were on Felucia almost immediately with General Plo’s battalion. We had a successful mission but Commander Tano had been kidnapped.” A fond smile spread on his lips at the thought of his old friend. “We were able to get her back because of the wookies, but Ahsoka did a lot on her own first. The Trandoshian’s didn’t stand a chance against her.” He looked at the others smiling before continuing “We came back after about 2 weeks from now, it was only for a week. We were sent back out, so that’s all the time you’ll have to get to me. If you can snag me on my way to Dex’s diner, I’ll be at 79’s first but as I am passing by when I leave grab me. If you can’t get ahold of me right away, then go to the diner and wait for me there. You’ll see a man, he’s uh… he is a Mikkian. He has deep blue skin, and he has head tendrils that are kinda short. We were…”

“Friends?” Ezra asked eventually Rex looked down his younger face was so much easier to read, he knew that his face gave him away so he couldn’t help but look away.

“No, something else…” He really didn’t want to tell them. “Unfortunately, you could use this information to get me actually.” Everyone looked at him a bit puzzled and slowly realized the implications, except for Kannan. “We were… were…together in a way.” Rex finished quickly. Kannan looked the most shocked.

“You were, with someone?!” Kannan said making Rex looked up, almost guiltily, but then it hardened into defense.

“Yeah, I was. He and I just clicked.” He got out leaning back feeling uncomfortable “His name is Typhe”

“Isn’t that ya know, illegal for clones?” Kannan asked, his tone more dramatic then meant making Rex scoff

“Yeah, we didn’t exactly have a choice in that matter. Not many matters actually.” His tone hardened “I’d hardly say you keep to the ‘no attachments’ rule that the Jedi kept to” He said looking between him and Hera.

“Rex I didn’t mean-“

“look just, listen to me. We don’t know when I’ll be back exactly, and I can’t exactly show my face to them. I might be a bit older, but Clones aren’t dumb, they would recognize me.” Kannan frowned but didn’t say anything more about it. “Alright, he and I were lovers. You can say you’ll report me if I don’t come. But your probably just going to have to kidnap me if I don’t listen to that.”

“Why would you listen?” Ezra asked, a grim and humorless smile came onto Rex’s lips.

“Because, if we were caught, I’d be recommissioned or decommissioned” he saw the confusion on everyone’s faces “Basically they’ll either erase who I am, recommission me and reinstate me somewhere new, or they would just kill me if they deemed me to be a product too far gone.”

“What in the hells?!” Kannan bellowed out “What- wouldn’t the Jedi… wouldn’t general Ti stop them?!”

“Why the Kriff would they kill you for loving someone?” Zeb added in with a low growl

“Because it is an incentive to betray or desert. We aren’t allowed such things as love outside our brothers, even then we need to be able to let go of every single one of them. A lover makes us to… individual, too much of a person. We wouldn’t be as easy to control.” Rex was silent after that for a moment. Hera looked to Rex and placed a hand on his shoulder, it wasn’t as comforting as she intended and he jumped at the touch, although her heart hurt for him she kept her hand firm and looked at him with a kind smile.

“We won’t do anything to endanger you two” She assures he smiles at her looking sadly down at his arms

“I know, your fine I’m just… anxious.” He chuckled “Clones shouldn’t feel that”

“Rex your more than just a clone. You have a right to feel.” Hera added smoothly and Rex shook his head and continued.

“Anyway, nothing bad will happen to him really, he can move planets, maybe he would get a fee for property violations and then he can leave town to make a new life, people of coruscant will be the most dangerous since he was with a meat-“ He stopped himself from saying the casual insult thrown around by those who knew nothing “But I’ll still be afraid, so use it against me. But don’t be surprised if I try and kill you, be on your guard. I was never as strong as a Jedi, but I wasn’t as easy as I am in the uh... future.” It was weird to think that that was the future. “Get me in a room with all of you, reveal what you know about me that only I could know, repeat the stories I’ve told you, and bring up… oh man this is my longest kept secret!” he grimaces to himself, “If the general knew… man he would be so mad… “ deep breath “Bring up General Skywalker and Padme Amidala. They married right after the battle of genosis. They had to erase that damn droid C-3P0’s memory so he wouldn’t spill any secrets, but him and R2 were witnesses. The General told me after a I caught him kissing her and acted like I didn’t see anything.” He laughed lightly at the memory “I was so embarrassed. That’s the information you’ll need on them.” Ezra and Kannan gawked at that one

“But he was a Jedi knight!”

“What does that make you?” Rex said back “Don’t be mad at him for it, its who he was. You aren’t so different” Kannan looked ready to argue back but slumps a bit, he wasn’t exactly a perfect Jedi Knight himself…

“Any other secrets?”

“Mm, well you could bring up information on the mission I was just on and the one right before it. The other secret I have... none of them work yet. I wouldn’t believe you if there is too much about the future. I know about the chip, which you can prove to me! We would somehow need to get our hands on a really good brain scanner… I know my medic Kix would have the ability to get me scanned on coruscant. But he would want to know why… man wish you could kidnap him to…maybe you can-”

“A bit off topic from secrets Rex” Sabine chimed in

“Well actually this one’s a kicker!” He smiled at them as he formulated his words in his head “Kix has got a secret to convince him to come to!”

“Okay, what is it?” Ezra asked

“I feel a little bad about this one to but… ya know they’ll have to forgive me with the fate of the galaxy and all.” He smirked lightly “Kix is secretly stealing medical supplies with Jesse. The republic couldn’t afford more supplies by that point… well they wouldn’t help to pay for it anymore anyway, so Kix would steal it while on Coruscant, he almost got caught once… We could use them, there some of the best and loyal soldiers I know, kriff I’ve missed them…” Suddenly his memory shot back to Jesse. His head split open and his neck slack and unnaturally bent. His eyes were open, but lifeless. He had to close them as he lowered his body into the grave. The sight of hundreds of brother’s graves, some weren’t even 9 yet. He was brought back by Kannan’s arm tightening around Rex carefully, Hera had scooted closer and was attempting to ask him questions, most of which he hadn’t heard.

“Let’s slow down a little. We’ll focus on just kidnapping you for now alright?” Ezra said making Rex look up.

“S-sorry. I just haven’t thought about Jesse in years…” He hadn’t realized but his body had been shaking, he stilled himself as best as he could “I had to bury him… when the order was given, he didn’t have his chip out and he wouldn’t-“ a pained gasp escaped him and he held his face in his hand “Oh Jesse” it was just a whisper to himself. He didn’t think this would be so hard. They allowed him a moment to grieve before he decided to continue. “Get ahold of those 3 after me then, they have things that they can lose other than their own lives. Once you do, relay the necessary information. Be careful how you do it, none of us will hesitate to kill you the second we deem necessary and able.” Rex sighed. That’s all he could do for now. Right now, he needed to get to Cut and Suu. They would be confused, but he could convince them.

“Okay, we’ll flesh things out as we go. We’ll probably go for you first then your men. If we convince you first, we can get you to convince them.” Rex nodded at Sabines plan

“If all else fails, just straight up take me. No one will go looking for me, well Anakin might but I doubt he would be allowed to.” The general would always try to save his friends.

The rest of the night they came up with several plans, backup after back up, Rex seemed paranoid not that anyone could blame him, and seeing him younger was still tripping them all out. The plans were extensive, he was shoveling in tons of information that not everyone could keep up with, but they would try, nonetheless. The next morning Rex was off, taking the ship they were able to snatch and headed towards the planet Saleucami.

0-0-0

“There are storm troopers everywhere” Ezra whispers horrified, Zeb’s trigger finger is itching.

“No, they’re Clone troopers. Remember what Rex said, they are good men.” Hera gave off an air of confidence, although she understood exactly why they all felt this fear, and she had felt it herself but only for a moment. They had a couple years till the end of the war and then the supposed betrayal of the Jedi, and if they played there cards right… well it wouldn’t happen.

“Look at them!” Sabine says with a surprising amount of joy

“What?!” Zeb asked suddenly worried by the enthusiasm.

“They all paint their armor, I mean I knew they did, but there all so different! I really like that Red one, it’s covering most of his white, a bit minimalistic but still nice” Sabine smiled at the colors around them

“Save the art gallery for another day Sabine, we’re looking for 501st blue. Remember they are with General Skywalker, the man we saw in the holocrone that Ezra watched.” And so, they watched waiting for the 501st to land home.

0-0-0

It had been 2 weeks now, still no sign of the boys in blue. Rex told them he couldn’t remember exactly when they came back, only that it was around 2 weeks. But there is always the chance that he was wrong. Rex warned them that he wasn’t quite the man he was now. He was much more serious and would have lots of questions most likely. It was funny, sounded like he trusted himself only in the ability to not trust them.

“Man, this is the longest I’ve ever had to wait for something!” Ezra says apparently unable to handle sitting still for so long, he has worked some odd jobs to help with money, but it was still a long wait after he got back. Sabine seems just as bored, but not quite as complaintive

“You can explore the city Ezra, before it became the Empires it was pretty interesting… or so I’ve heard.”

“Yeah, why don’t you go out for a while, might get some peace and quiet.” Zeb says from where he lays on the couch trying to nap. Ezra, unable to keep away from trouble drops his water on him ‘accidently’ as he passes. Before they knew it Zeb, Ezra, and Sabine were going all over the place trying to get at one another, if chopper was there it would’ve been even more chaotic. It’s good that he wasn’t though because Hera was ready to lose it and Kannan didn’t need the force to sense that.

“Alright you guys out! You all need to get your energy out” Kannan said and pointed to Hera as discreetly possible who glared back at them making them all freeze to listen “While you do that get food for everyone… take your time.”

“Riiiight… Lets go guys, I heard Rex talk about this place once, Dex’s diner!” Ezra quickly grabbed his stuff with Sabine following behind and Zeb grumbling but letting a small smile grow on his lips roughing up Ezra’s smoothed over hair as they played around leaving the small hotel. There was only one bed, they couldn’t afford much in upper coruscant, and they didn’t have their ship to use as a base, not that there was anywhere close enough to park it. Hera sighed looking back out the window. It was taking a lot longer than they had hoped already for Rex to comm them. Kannan sat down next to her holding one of her hands carefully in his.

“I knew it would be awhile but its taking up to much time, were gonna run out of money at some point even with everyone working these odd jobs, it’s just not quite enough” Kannan couldn’t help but smile at her, it was almost like this was just their little family and that was it. Even if the family discussion was about how little money they had, it was something.

“Well he’ll be here soon. He can’t be gone all that much longer… probably.” They really had no guarantees. Worst case scenario they could live in the lower levels and just go and hang around up there separately, it’d be easy enough and not exactly new.

“Rex seemed very… nervous.” Hera contemplated “I’m a bit worried, I hope he’ll contact us soon.”

“I know Hera, he was acting weird. This is all probably… a lot for him right?”

“Yeah, a hell of a lot, its his friends and family.” Hera stared out a bit unfocused thinking about it all, “How are you doing with all of this love?” she asked quietly looking to him for just a moment before continuing to watch as to not miss anything. She felt him shudder in her grip and leaned into him offering him comfort.

“I… it’s harder than I expected. I feel them, I hear them and remember what they did, and I’ve never felt so angry. Me and Rex don’t talk much about it, the war. It’s something we wanted to forget; beyond his stories of battles I didn’t want to hear him talk about it.” The admittance made him feel a little ashamed. He didn’t know much, but he knew they had chips and couldn’t fully control themselves, but Rex wouldn’t talk about what happened with him or his men. He refused to whenever Kannan started to so much as mention it, he’d quickly avoid the topic and no one wanted to push, not yet. If they had known how things were going to turn out they would’ve just pushed him. Now they needed all the information he had. “I know that as a kid I thought they were fine and all, I even had a close friend among them… but Jedi aren’t allowed such attachments so I didn’t get to know them all that well, the ones I knew better died or weren’t in the same company’s anymore. I can’t tell if I wish I would’ve gotten to know them better or glad I didn’t.” Hera shook her head and thought about it, she didn’t know anything about them beyond what they did to help her family, but that’s not enough to know how to feel personally. But she did know Rex, she loved the guy, he was family now, and she knew he wouldn’t vouch for people he didn’t trust, she hoped Kannan would remember that when the time comes to act.

0-0-0

Everyone had come back and was eating while chattering, Ezra was especially excited as he had never seen a Basilisk before, neither had Sabine and they were in the middle of describing the larger specimen when Zeb nearly choked on his food.

“Geez Zeb you good?” Kannan laughed lightly but then stopped feeling the tension in the room “What? What is it what happened?”

“They’re back.” Sabine answered. They all gathered by the window for a moment seeing men in blue and white armor marching out, although it dragged a bit. They were all covered in filth and they were heading outside quickly. They watched for a moment more before quickly realizing staring isn’t part of the plan!

“Ezra pass me my- never mind grab-“

“Where’s my blaster?”

“Kannan did I give you my lightsaber?!” Somehow in the midst of their small panic they got ready and were headed out, this is where things got tricky. It’s not like they could impersonate Clone troopers, like they would Storm troopers, they were distinctive in height, look, and the way they operated themselves. It wasn’t just anyone, it was an identical copy of Jango Fett. They needed an opportunity, they needed Rex separated from the rest, they would have to snatch him at 79’s. The men headed inside to the building and they saw as things calmed down, that Rex’s helmet was there. Jaig eyes, that was all they had, he was much thinner, not quite as muscular as he was now- well in the future. He was standing next to a taller Jedi, he had bright blue eyes and hair that was in the middle of growing it seemed, that was-

“Anakin Skywalker” Ezra breaths out quietly as they made themselves look busy instead of spying on the troops and Jedi, next to him was a rather dirty young bright eyed torgruta. “No way!” Ezra was getting a little louder “That’s Ahsoka?! Wait, how old is she?”

“Ezra lower your voice” Sabine snapped out quickly. Then they saw the man they needed remove his helmet and lower it to his side and held it tightly to himself. The man had short blonde hair as Rex had described, he looked much more serious, he wasn’t as relaxed, and MAN was he young…they couldn’t help but look at him in surprise, he looked much younger than he did now, maybe early 20’s? “What? How far back did we go?” Sabine couldn’t help asking.

“Were in the right place” Kannan said “Why?”

“He’s just so young! He looks way to young for us to be at the right time, but the war only lasted 3 years, and we came back about 19 years? He couldn’t have aged that quickly!” Hera looked at them surprised; Zeb seemed surprised to. They never thought about how Rex never mentioned it, the accelerated aging.

“Guys, somethings not right here-“ Ezra was interrupted by Kannan

“No this is it guys.”

“How can you say that Kannan, you can’t exactly see them but they’re to-“

“Listen guys,” he sighed to himself he never even thought about this confusing them. They hadn’t seen anyone else take off their helmets till now “Clones… they have accelerated aging. Their aging was doubled so they could be put out faster, they age twice the speed of regular humans.” Ezra had a look of shock and Sabine seemed confused. Zeb put the pieces together the quickest, this was all confusing. But Zeb had known more of the war then the other two did.

“I heard rumors of that… but I didn’t think that the republic would do that. I was more naïve then I guess.” He said looking at the man he had become friends with, “So they just raised them for war huh.” He seemed sadden by it, and a bit angry. “karabast”

“Why didn’t Rex ever say anything, this is important stuff! I guess that rules out my theory that his body changed to this time…” Ezra huffed out angrily “Wait, then how old is he?! He can’t be more then-“

“Guys now isn’t the time to discuss. We have a mission so stay focused got it.” Hera said refocusing their attention and saw Rex salute the man before him- Anakin Skywalker and replace his helmet going into the building. Hera made an annoyed noise to herself. “There aren’t really a lot of holes here are there?”

“sounds like a good night to get a drink.” Zeb said smirking. He hadn’t been to a bar in forever so he couldn’t help but be a little excited.

0-0-0

Later that night as promised, Fives had dragged Rex out with other Clone troopers. The others were already there, drinking and eating. Kannan stayed behind thinking he would be to suspicious, that and being in a room full of people who seemingly betrayed him was a bit bigger than he was ready for. Rex seemed annoyed by the whole thing, but he couldn’t completely keep his smile off his face. Ezra couldn’t help but keep his eyes stuck onto Rex and his brothers, it was the strangest thing in the galaxy, sure he’d seen clones before, Rex, Gregor, and Wolffe, but this was a WHOLE new level of strange, they were all happy, drunk, and you could see through the force how different they truly were, how they shined through the force. Not to mention there was just so many in numbers. But you could also see it, although they looked alike the way the all acted like individuals, but you could also see there closeness, they were never found by themselves, as if solitude meant they were abandoned. One of the men with Rex was passing by, this man had a tattoo, a blue one, that went from around the back of his head then directly through his eye and stopped shortly under his eye, maybe an inch? He had a blue dot under it and some more lines on his chin.

“Oops!” The man peeped tripping and spilling his drink onto Ezra who was snapped out of his thoughts at the cold on his feet.

“What the-?!” He began jumping to his feet the man before him straightened up but bent over slightly trying to contain his laughter

“Sorry sorry!” He got out although it wasn’t very convincing

“Hardcase! What are you-“ Another trooper turned around and saw what was happening and looked annoyed, he had a regular haircut, but with hair under his chin in a small beard, the man next to him had red tattoo on his face that was shaped in an odd triangular shape, he looked shocked and almost embarrassed by what was happening the others were a mixture of annoyance and laughter at their brother, although a few just seemed to hold their breath, as if waiting to see which reaction was better, Rex was one of those. “Case’ come on man!” He quickly came over and picked up the fallen glass, and said to the other- Hardcase, “don’t laugh while you apologize” Hardcase almost couldn’t contain himself but straightened out for a moment as if to try but Ezra quickly interrupted

“It’s alright guys! It’s just cold!” The one with hair looked a bit surprised but smiled his thanks, Hardcase on the other hand was immediately intrigued.

“Sorry about the shoes, and ya know the cold” He got out smiling but calmer, he was probably drunk.

“Its fine, really!” Sabine was giggling and Hera smiled at them, Zeb gave a goofy smile as well looking towards them

“s’no problem boys, not like you’re in trouble.” Zeb said, this was good, if they infiltrated the team maybe it’d be easier to get ahold of Rex, Ezra looked at the others and that seemed to be there idea as well.

“Thank you, sir,!” the other said “Anything we can do for you?” He asked almost awkwardly, he seemed unfamiliar with this kind of response.

“Your names would be a nice start” Ezra asked excitedly, Hardcase looked confused at first but excitedly replied

“My names Hardcase!” He proudly stated

“Fives, and yours?”

“Ezra!”

“Zeb”

“I’m Sabine”

“And I’m Hera” And so the evening began, and they chatted for a while, and ended up listening to Hardcase excitedly tells tales while Fives occasionally corrected him. At first he didn’t speak much but he quickly warmed up letting them in on Hardcase’s antics, they shared for a minute before Hardcase excitedly invited them over to the other Clone troopers, Ezra jumped at the chance excitedly and Sabine couldn’t help but bounce up at the opportunity, she was more anxious then she was letting on, but she was also more excited then she’d admit, it was so fascinating.

The rest introduced themselves starting with Kix, Jesse, Tup, Dogma and then it was Rex’s turn, and Ezra looked at him a bit to enthusiastically and Rex couldn’t help but give a confused smile.

“The names Rex kid.” He said, he was definitely more serious than the rest, he also somehow had more impressive bags under his eyes than anyone else there. The only one who was stiffer was Dogma, who was trying a bit too hard to focus on everything being said. They all chatted, it was easier than they thought it be, the troopers were all eager to chat with them.

“So, you guys aren’t from around, here are you?” Jesse asked and Kix elbowed him in the side looking toward him with a look Ezra didn’t quite understand.

“No, we’re just visiting. How’d you know?”

“Not many civies chat with us clone’s ma’am” Rex responds carefully, almost suspicious.

“Not that we mind” Kix added quickly

“And why’s that?” Zeb asks, he had been having a lot of fun with the older troopers, including Rex. They all laughed and looked at him until they realized he was seriously confused

“Well, I mean were Clones! What else do we have to say?” Jesse asked his smile faltering just a bit. Suddenly there was a bit of tension in the air, Ezra ignored it pressing for a bit more information, but did so carefully with the bit of tact he had.

“Yeah and? You guys are fun!” the others looked to each other awkwardly. The song in the background ended making the silence all the more painful. The implications were uncomfortable.

“Eh whatever!” Hardcase jumped in as the new sang began “This is my favorite song!” He excitedly stood up “Hey do you guys dance?” He asked looking to them all with a sly grin and bright eyes. The others had a mixture of laughs and groans go around.

“Not really my thing” Zeb said quickly, to quickly and Hardcase was not going to let that go. That much Ezra was sure.

“Oh, come on Zeb, don’t let Hardcase down like that!” Sabine quickly said to Zeb so he couldn’t get out of it.

“Yeah Zeb, this is an experience! Go and have it!” Ezra added

“Like I said it’s not my-“ all the sudden Hardcase had a hold of Zeb’s arm and was dragging him to the dance floor while beckoning the others. It had to be the funniest thing they’d seen to see the large bulky Lasat try to dance and Hardcase tried to give him direction, which on the topic Hardcase was oddly well coordinated. Ezra was laughing loudly at the sight and then he asked Sabine if she would dance with him.

“Ezra-“

“Come on Sabine! We don’t get many opportunities for this kind of thing!” begging he continued “Please?” She rolled her eyes and stood up going with Ezra to dance with the other two. Ezra was following what Hardcase was saying rather easily while the other two fumbled around with it awkwardly. Hardcase encouraged them despite that though.

“He watches dancing videos on the holo net when he thinks no one is looking” Fives tells Hera who is smiling at them.

“Well it’s probably for the best so they don’t _all_ look clumsy!” She laughed turning back to the others who were chatting excitedly about one thing or another. Rex, Dogma, and Tup were chatting lightly when Hera excused herself to use the restroom. The plan was getting harder, how are they going to sneak off with Rex like this? She thought they would’ve been drinking, but they weren’t. Hardcase was just always high energy so it was easy to confuse the two. She decided to comm Kannan, she was worried that they could get caught blowing their cover, maybe it be better if Kannan went ahead and got Rex when he left the bar.

“Hera? Is everything alright”

“Yes, but… I think we might need some help if you wouldn’t mind. We ended up getting along well with everyone, now they will recognize us if we try and get him on his own, or if we leave right when he does. I can slip out and meet you at the diner Rex told us about, but I need you there first.”

“Alright, I can do that. Good thing they have Taxis, or I’d be screwed” Kannan chuckled

“Hurry Love, I’ve got no idea when he’ll leave. Gotta go” With that she was headed back out quickly, the song was over, but Hardcase wasn’t done yet, Zeb looked like he was almost afraid of the energy from the trooper but he was also smiling and couldn’t help but joke around with him.

The rest of the night was a blast for everyone, one of the troopers, Dogma was asking Hera tons of questions about Hera and there crew, she didn’t mention that they were from the future or that they were battling an Empire that sought the destruction of any who opposed, instead opting for the route of bounty hunters. He seemed surprised but he also seemed excited, she told him adventures that she had to change up a bit, but she had fun doing it. Fives was sharing stories with Ezra who listened with intensity. Sabine was chatting with Kix, Jesse, and Rex, Hardcase was keeping all of Zeb’s attention with exciting conversation and a million and one questions about the Lasat and the home world he was from.

“Oh man! Well, I haven’t been to many planets yet, I hope we get to go there one day!” Hardcase excitedly told Zeb who looked very comfortable

“Yeah, not quite Case” Fives rolled his eyes

“Uh- Yeah I do, that sounds like an awesome planet!”

“Exactly! We go to war di’kuut, we aren’t a guard!” Hardcase rolled his eyes at Fives and instead turned to Rex who seemed to be about to leave

“Captain, where you going?” Rex turned and looked nervously at him

“Oh, uh…I’m just… I’m gonna head back. Lots of work to do and all!”

“Really? Were only here a week! Just enjoy yourself tonight Captain!”

“Nah, I’ll come again later in the week Case. I’ll see you guys later!” as Hardcase was about to protest Jesse yanked at his arm and shook his head but didn’t say a thing. The ghost crew froze a moment and looked at Hera who stayed where she was, she didn’t make a move and neither did they. She sent the message she had typed out earlier in the bathroom to them and continued to chat with Dogma. The message relayed that only she would slip out the rest would stay and keep there cover. Everyone continued chatting along and Hera made her way out to get back to her ‘husband’, they told her to come back with him another time and she vanished.

0-0-0

Rex was nervous, something felt strange about the civies back there. Not only were they nice and interested in conversation, but they also seemed wary around them. To be fair, most people were just wary… but those who went into 79’s either would go straight at a conversation that wasn’t quite so nice or look at them with disgust. Sometimes they’d flirt to try and get an easy kriff from them. Something just didn’t quite feel right. But hey, he didn’t have time to worry about some folks being ‘too nice.’ He was probably just still a bit stressed; he was going to focus. He didn’t get to see Typhe often enough and he couldn’t wait to see him! Just the thought made him smile uncontrollably, first though he had to change into civvies clothes. Sure, Clones were somewhat welcomed into Dex’s, not by other customers but by Dex more so, but no one felt comfortable when they came in full armor. Besides, Typhe liked him in regular clothes. He had gotten him some that he thought were ‘handsome’ on Rex. He changed quickly in an ally, slipping pants over his blacks and a brown jacket. He carried his armor in a sack he snuck with him. It was easy to fold up and keep with him, so he brought it with whenever he snuck over to Dex’s. He couldn’t tell anyone about what he was doing, if they knew he wouldn’t know how to explain. It felt strange, it felt selfish, inappropriate, but it also felt so so right, he didn’t mind if it was selfish. He was allowed the chance to at least see his boyfriend once in a while, it’s not like he would desert, his family was with the 501st.

When he got in it was a quiet evening, Dex welcomed him in from the kitchen and he sat down at the bar messaging Typhe he had arrived.

0-0-0

Kannan was seriously grateful for the Taxis, he had no idea how to get around coruscant, he had only been there when he was much younger, and it wasn’t to explore the place. When he got in with a nice woman guiding him to the door before departing, he could sense a familiar presence, he felt Rex. He felt a bit different, not much but he felt more whole then he had when he was with him, happier?

“Hello sir! What can I do for ya?” A feminine voice asked, it was robotic and cheerful. The droid must’ve noticed him standing there awkwardly, he didn’t go into restaurants by himself often, he usually went with his family.

“Uh hi, if I could be guided to a seat towards the…” he could hear Rex’s voice very lightly to the “Left please, I’m meeting my friend here.” The droid placed his hand on her shoulder and guided him to a table. He sat and waited listening to the conversation between Rex and the man Typhe. He had a large deep voice; it was kind and clumsy. He made several bad jokes in which he heard Rex chuckle at before saying how awful they were. It was so strange to hear him younger; he spoke softly yet clipped and snappy. He did sound much younger than now his older self.

“Oh, c’mon Rex! That was a good one!”

“No, it wasn’t, but I laughed anyway didn’t I?”

“But that’s a pity laugh! It doesn’t count.”

“A laugh is a laugh Typhe, besides, I don’t mind how awful they are!”

“That’s true, I’ve got anothe’ one if you want to hear it?” He could practically hear Rex roll his eyes when he scoffed at the other

“Really? I’ve suffered through a lot of those crappy one-liners already don’t-“

“Are you a DC-17?”

“Typhe please don’t-“

“Because if you are you’ve been set to stun!” Silence, but then he heard an annoyed sound leave Rex and Kannan almost couldn’t help but laugh, he played it off as a cough… but it was such a bad line! A small smile spread on his face; he was definitely bringing this up to Rex later.

Hera arrived shortly after sitting in front of them, they ordered the cheapest drinks they could and chatted lightly but listening to the other two shamelessly. They couldn’t help it! They had just learned so much about Rex in such recent times then they had since they’d first met him.

0-0-0

“Dearest what’s wrong?” Typhe asked grasping Rex’s hand under their table rubbing his larger hand on Rex’s “What happened on your mission?” Typhe always knew when something went wrong, and he wasn’t going to just let it go.

“M’ sorry Typhe, I don’t mean to bring down the mood at all” Rex sighed out looking away from him. Typhe squeezed his hand gently pulling Rex’s gaze back to him.

“No don’t do that. Just tell me what happened. You can talk to me.” Rex nodded sighing. He began recounting what had happened on the citadel and Kannan and Hera tried to remain casual behind the two while listening to the story Rex told, only interrupting by chatting lightly between each other to not draw suspicion. They listened hearing how his brothers died, how one had gotten cut in half even. It hadn’t been a first or last in this war, but it was disturbing to see either way.

“The planet was just so hot; I could smell flesh burning. Its not like I haven’t before, but it was another level of gross. We were all sweating from the heat and so many brothers died, my friend, Echo… he died trying to get us into a ship. He was an ARC trooper; I saw him go from a Shiny on a moon base to an Arc. Now he’s gone, I know I need to let go that’s what I’m supposed to do! I know it, but it’s hard. He was so close to another trooper named Fives, he lived and watched it all happen. It’d be like me losing Cody or Kix or Jesse!” He let out an annoyed noise from himself “Hell, they’ll probably die one day, maybe the next mission but knowing doesn’t help.” Typhe had gotten closer placing an arm around Rex’s shoulder, he wanted to do more, but anything else would’ve been too much if they got caught, they couldn’t say they were just friends.

“listen to me dear… it may never be easy, you know that. But hope that even with those sacrifices a better day will come is what keeps us going. One day, losing those friends won’t seem to be in vain. You’ll have many other brothers who’ll have lived thanks to them.” Rex nodded listening “You have all made a difference already, nothing can take that away as long as you believe that” they sat holding hands under the table and Typhe pulled in Rex just a bit closer.

“Heh, you sound like you have wisdom when you aren’t making dumb jokes” Rex jokes looking up a bit at Typhe who smiled a small and brilliant smile

“Well you wouldn’t be here without them!”

“I guess your right” The night went on for about an hour before Rex decided it was time to be over

“You should come over to my place tonight”

“Not tonight Typhe, I got a meeting tomorrow. But I can meet you after that, and then we can go back to your place.” At that Hera and Kannan stood up walking over to pay for there food and left. They hoped leaving first would give them an advantage to see where Rex would head.

“Damn this has been a long night!” Kannan stretched out as Hera guided him off to the side ally where they could watch from where they were.

“I know, but I didn’t think that we would be able to hear so much about Rex! That guy, Typhe, his joke are… endearing.”

“Yeah that’s true, I just hope this Typhe guy won’t be a problem.”

“Why would he be?”

“If he gets in the way of us getting Rex… we would have to knock him out and leave him or take him depending on how were getting out of here. Are the others bringing the speeder soon?’ Hera nodded to herself quickly typing out a new message to the crew to get over by Dex’s and park the speeder. Soon enough Rex and Typhe were headed out of the bar and coming towards the ally way that they were hiding in.

“Okay well we gotta be ready to stun em because there headed our way!” Kannan nodded and they quickly assumed their position, luckily not many people were out so this should work. Kannan laid on the ground as still as he could, and Hera began rubbing some of the dirt from the ground on her and let out a small noise of terror. As soon as she did, she heard the footsteps that were already close by come running and turning the corner, Rex came bounding over to the two and bent down next to Kannan before asking

“What happened ma’am?” Hera was glad he hadn’t seen her face yet, he would’ve recognized her right away

“I-I do not know!” She gasped out “T-there was a man and he hurt my husband before running away with my credits!” Rex looked for head trauma immediately, when he saw nothing he turned to her puzzled, before he could speak Hera pulled out her blaster set to stun and she felt bad watching his eyes widen, luckily for him but not so much her Typhe grabbed the gun and aimed it away, Kannan jumped in to action trying to kick Rex over but he grabbed his leg and twisted it shoving him back down, he was about to stomp on his head when he jumped up and got into a defensive position, another shot went off and nearly hit Rex but he dodged and while Kannan was distracted gave him a round quick kick that made contact between Kannan’s face and the bottom of Rex’s shoe, _since when was Rex so flexible?!_ Kannan thought quickly dodging a flurry of fists and kicks from Rex feeling bruising form where he couldn’t move fast enough.

“Hera…!!” Kannan couldn’t use his lightsaber and Rex was much better than he expected, sure he knew he was good, but he forgot how strong clones were!

“I know!” She barked back, Typhe was pretty strong himself but she ripped the gun from him firing on Typhe quickly who fell with a loud thud, that was enough of a distraction for Rex to turn and run at her, she missed the first shot and Rex kicked out her legs from beneath her before she got him the second time, his armor in the sack clanking to the floor along with him. They took a moment gasping for breath, they had underestimated them, if they didn’t have weapons, they’d have been goners.

“Kriffing- ow!” Kannan carefully touched his nose, it felt broken

“Did Rex do that?” She held a hand to his face cupping it carefully looking at his nose carefully

“Yes! I forgot how strong clones are, not to mention flexible!” he grumbled to himself as they turned back to the two on the ground. They dragged them off to the side and Hera commed the crew

“Spector 4 come in” a moment passed before the reply

“Spector 4 ready to receive” Zeb’s voice came in low

“We’ve got a grand total of 4, make some room.” They grabbed the men and brought them to the edge of the ally, across from them their ride had arrived, and they quickly dragged the two into the speeder and tied their hands quickly.

“Geez what happened to your face?” Sabine asked immediately and Kannan scowled a bit

“Rex kicked me in the face!” Ezra let out a surprised laugh at that

“He got ya good Kannan!”

“Your nose is a mess” Zeb snickered looking back for a moment

“Yeah I know, can you get this thing moving or not?” at that they were moving along, chattering about the Clones from 79’s filling Kannan in on what had happened, of course not neglecting the fact that Zeb had danced with a particularly hyper active trooper named Hardcase. When they got back, they settled the two into a small closet so they would hear any movement from them if they tried to escape, tying them up tightly. Now, they had to wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, what'd ya think?

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think! Also the prologue is pretty short compared to the other chapters I have so far, so look forward to longer stuff!


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